February 25, 2024 Sermon
Sermon title: "The Cost of Discipleship"
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
(Other lectionary suggestions include Genesis 17:1-7 and 15-16, Psalm 22:23-31, and Romans 4:13-25.)
Mark 8:31-38
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” 34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
The great Lutheran preacher and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book with the title of today's sermon, "The Cost of Discipleship." He was a martyr because he was executed by the Nazis in 1944 (I think) for opposing Hitler. I should point out that not only did he oppose Hitler; he was also involved in a plot on his life, which was NOT successful.
What we heard in today's Scripture lesson for this second Sunday of Lent lays it out pretty straight, and it is Jesus laying it out for us. Sometimes following him or even doing the right thing for other reasons has a cost to it. Jesus called it "picking up your cross". Some other passages even add the word "daily": "pick up your cross DAILY" if you want to follow Jesus.
Often, I quote the contemporary scholar N. T. Wright, who wrote a whole series of commentaries on New Testament books, including the Gospel of Mark, from which our Scripture passage for today comes. At the end of his commentary on today's reading, Wright says, "Following Jesus is, more or less, Mark's definition of what being a Christian means; and Jesus is not leading us on a pleasant afternoon hike, but on a walk into danger and risk." And then Wright says this, which cuts right through me: "Or did we suppose that the kingdom of God would mean merely a few minor adjustments in our ordinary lives?"
I don't know about you, but I have always thought that I have lived a pretty decent life. And my thought has been - and still is! - that I can live a good, moral life with having Jesus as my leader. Okay, "Savior", if you like that better. But my belief has been and still is that God has created this beautiful world, and there is nothing wrong with enjoying this beautiful world! A minister friend of mine (now deceased) said one time that we as Christians always wake up with two choices, and they may not be mutually exclusive: we can choose to enjoy this wonderful world, or we can choose to make it better. Again, those don't have to be mutually exclusive choices. I must say that I have tried to do both - at least, I HOPE I have tried to do both!
Look at all the beauty in the world. Isn't it okay for us to enjoy and appreciate it? I like to think YES. Look at all the beautiful music that has been written. Isn't it okay for us to enjoy and appreciate what God gave to Mozart, Beethoven, and others? I like to think YES. But Jesus as he appears in Mark's gospel seems to offer an either/or choice. Is he? Harlane always tells me that life is about BALANCE. I have tried to live my life that way: balanced. But I have to confess that today's Scripture lesson makes me a little nervous.
You may have heard me speak about one of my theological heroes, Reinhold Niebuhr. Well, Reinhold had a brother who was equally theologically adept, and his name was H. Richard Niebuhr. He died before his brother Reinhold died (1971), but he taught at Yale University Divinity School, and he wrote a book called "Christ and Culture". I wish I could tell you that I read that book, but I never did! However, even just the title of the book suggests there may be a tension between who Jesus was and taught, and our culture. Do we have to CHOOSE? Oh, I hope not! I know that some people do. These weren't Christians involved this time, but do you remember when a Muslim group (the Taliban, I think) blew up that statue or statues of the Buddha? I think that was in Afghanistan, and the figures were blown up because they were thought to have been IDOLS!
There is another reason for Separation of Church and State, friends. When some ultra-religious crazies of ANY religion decide that some piece of art is an IDOL, look out! You will have people thinking that they are doing God's Will by destroying what they consider offensive. Oh, our Founding Fathers were SO WISE to have put in the Separation of Church and State idea!
After the establishment of the Christian Church, but I think before the year 300, there was an emperor by the name of Marcus Aurelius. He was quite well read and quite a thinker. I like to think that you and I would have thought of him as a "decent" emperor. (Not all those guys went after the Christians!) However, there was a belief among some members of the church that getting oneself killed by the Roman Empire was somehow glorious. Also, maybe some lived a miserable life, and maybe they thought Heaven now rather than later was a good choice. In any case, Marcus Aurelius didn't really want to kill anybody for no reason. But there were some Christians who wanted the Roman Empire to kill them so that they could go right to Heaven. Marcus is quoted as saying, "Oh, Christians, aren't there enough mountains you could fling yourself off of? Isn't there enough rope for you to hang yourselves if you want? Please, don't make the Empire kill you!"
I tell you all this simply so you would be aware of this tension between what some Christians believe or have believed, and the world in which they lived. Some have been so interested in taking up their crosses that perhaps they haven't realized how precious God's great gift of life is. But there are others who claim to be Christians who SHOULD be picking up their crosses but are not! We have some of those people in politics right now, and I'll leave it to you to figure out the ones I mean! But if you and I are going to follow Jesus, sometimes we may have to be prepared to suffer a little bit. Maybe not death, but we might have to face the possibility of losing a job for the sake of Christ. Again, any politicians that come to mind? I am reminded of a great line in the movie, "O God!" The picture stars George Burns as God and John Denver as a guy who isn't particularly religious, but God speaks to him, anyhow! John Denver is a modern-day prophet. Anyway, Denver's character says to God, "I may lose my job!" God says, "Lose a job, save a world!"
Says N. T. Wright, thinking like Jesus "....is a challenge to all of us, as the church in every generation struggles not only to think but to live from God's point of view in a world where such a thing is madness. This is the point at which God's kingdom, coming 'on earth as it is in heaven', will challenge and overturn all normal human assumptions about power and glory, about what is really important in life and in the world."
What do you think? Amen.
Pastor Skip
